Capital's quadrennial rite of fashion, food and dance was a night to see and be seen

WASHINGTON — At the inaugural balls, it all depends on what the meaning of "worth it" is.

It might be worth the price you paid just to be able to say you watched President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush dance a couple of steps to "I Could Have Danced All Night."

Or to say that you "had a toast" with the president. Or to pay $6 for a glass of less-than-top-shelf champagne because it gave you a chance to wear your fur coat in public or pose next to the inaugural seal.

Or maybe it was worth it if you were a Marine and this was probably your only shot at the glitz of what passes for high society in American politics.

Or perhaps you are like Caroline Herter, 23, of Alexandria, Va., who was, to put it mildly, a little underwhelmed.

"It's a lot of people who are happy staying in a semicircle waiting for someone to show up," she said. "It's not what I expected. I thought it would be more of a party."

The capital's quadrennial rite of fashion, food, music, dance and ostentation was a night to try to be noticed, with a hat, boots or gown. And everyone, it seemed, was cultural critic for a day.

Many eyes were trained on the first lady, who, after wearing winter white cashmere during the day, chose an Oscar de la Renta design for her evening wear. The ice-blue satin coat was completed by a silver and blue embroidered tulle long evening gown.

The Bush twins, Jenna and Barbara, accompanied their parents. Jenna Bush wore an emerald silk crepe gown with metallic leather banding and jeweled insets designed by Badgley Mischka. Barbara Bush selected a pale dress with sequins and a ruched skirt.

No word on whether their grandmother, Barbara Bush, approved.

For the masses, the gowns, whether long and flowing or short and snug, shimmered with a glittery shine. For some, the jewelry was big, the hair was bigger. But with apologies to hatmakers, only a few lids could be seen.

On most nights his bedtime would have been fast approaching, but on Thursday night, President Bush made an exception to dash from ball to ball.

At one of them, the walls of Union Station glowed red and gold for the opulent Freedom Ball that marked the president's first stop in an evening of whirlwind celebrations.

Whether the color red was a conscious choice in the year of red and blue states was unclear, but the lavish black-tie affair crackled with a sense of triumph among Republicans.

At the multistate ball that included Illinois, John Tsarpalas of Glenview could be counted among the impressed.

"You study democracy in school as a kid, and this is it," he said. "I didn't think I'd get this close to the president. It's more intimate than I thought, but it's on a bigger scale."

Celebrating democracy

And the celebration went beyond the president. "You need to celebrate the success of democracy," said new Illinois GOP Chairman Andrew McKenna.

The Washington Convention Center, the site for some of the balls barely a mile from the White House, was the center of Republican giddiness and glory for tens of thousands of party activists and contributors.

Despite the revelry, Vice President Dick Cheney explained his early departure from one ball: "I've got to get home so I can get to work early in the morning."

The Cheneys, though, did the ball-hop too. At their stop at the Independence Ball, Cheney stood with his wife, Lynne, and declared: "Looks pretty good tonight, doesn't she?" The Cheneys danced, dipped and exited stage right.

Jim Hagerty, a retired insurance salesman from Virginia Beach, Va., rented a tuxedo and brought his wife, Pam, to the Independence Ball. He worked as a precinct captain for the Bush-Cheney campaign, but he never saw the president because he had the political misfortune of not living in a battleground state.

"He didn't come to me, so I came to him," said Hagerty, proudly adding that his precinct handily delivered for Bush.

Don and India Linehan of Bracey, Va., also attended their first inaugural ball. But after surveying the buffet table of pasta, ham slices and cheese cubes, Don Linehan pronounced disappointment. "This inaugural cost $40 million, and there are no cookies!"

His wife, in a black cowboy hat, said of the president: "Stupidly, I thought I would get the chance to meet him."

At the Texas Wyoming Ball, a long line of couples in formal dress waited to have portraits taken in front of an inaugural seal. Many women from the Sun Belt state came wearing fur coats. "You just keep on electing Texans president and you get to use it every four years," said Jeanne Irwin, 45, of Austin.

Some came because they had earned it, donating thousands to the Bush campaign and a few hundred more for a ticket. Others, like Mike Barron, a 25-year-old commercial real estate broker from Atlanta, were the beneficiaries of good luck and, of course, the right connection.

He jumped on a plane to Washington after receiving a 1 a.m. Inauguration Day phone call from his sister, who scored a last-minute ticket to the Liberty Ball.